


Adrift

by AlexHunt



Series: Open Heart — Ethan Ramsey x Ellie Shepherd [5]
Category: Choices - Fandom, Open Heart (Visual Novels)
Genre: Art, F/M, Painting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24016249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexHunt/pseuds/AlexHunt
Summary: This takes place at Evelyn’s art exhibit in the middle of the scene, after arguing about the meaning of art and before finding the answer to Evelyn’s condition (OH2, Ch4). It is also a companion piece to my series Love & Scotch so it takes place concurrently with that storyline.
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Ellie Shepherd, Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart), Ethan Ramsey/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Open Heart — Ethan Ramsey x Ellie Shepherd [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1804708
Kudos: 8





	Adrift

**[** This is a companion story to my **[Love& Scotch Series](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23099863/chapters/55265896)]**

*********

Ellie turned toward a painting of the ocean, her head tilting sideways as she studied the work. 

With the movement of the waves and the pull of the sails, she could almost smell the salty scent of the sea beneath the small boat wafting through the gallery. Evelyn had so delicately captured the movement and light of her subject. 

“Do you see something?” Ethan questioned. 

“I see everything,” Ellie admitted, her gaze never leaving the painting. She shook her head softly. “You love puzzles, yet you condemn art.”

“Puzzles are meant to have a solution. They are objective,” he insisted. “Art is not a puzzle to solve. It has no single truth.”

“Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there,” Ellie defended, before turning her focus to him. “What do you see?”

“A boat.” Ethan stated, his arms crossing over his chest. 

“What else?” Ellie challenged. She recognized the disapproving look on his face, she had seen it so many times, it had lost its effect. “Look closer.”

“I see a waste of time,” he grumbled. “It’s just a boat.”

“Every painting tells a story–and, yes, that story is subjective, but why should solving it be any less meaningful?” She moved closer to the painting. “You want to learn more about a person? Then, find out what story they see, because that will tell you how they think and you can use that to better understand them,” Ellie attempted to explain. 

She knew she was getting nowhere, but she continued on all the same. “I look at this and question why a painting of a boat with no landmarks? Without something to guide my thinking, my mind wanders: I see a boat adrift, a sailor lost at sea, weary from days of sun. I see a fisherman returning home with a big haul to save the family business. I see someone escaping toward the horizon. I see all of these things and more. It’s a mystery that can only be solved _within_. What you see reflects your personal truth. And that truth may seem subjective, but it’s more than that. That truth can provide objective insight into better understanding a person.” His face was unwavering and unreadable. She tried once more, “What do you choose to see?”

“That we are no closer to finding an answer to our actual puzzle–Evelyn.” His voice was stern as he turned to walk away, pausing for just a moment longer as he looked back at the painting. “It’s just a boat. Anything more than that is you wanting to find meaning where none exists.”

She took one last look at the elusive boat. He wasn’t wrong–she was looking for meaning in it, but not in the way he thought. Right now, she saw herself on that boat, adrift, tossing in the sea. She wasn’t quite as lost as the sailor in her earlier story, she was more ebbing and flowing, waiting for the winds that were Ethan to make a choice. His words and behaviors were in constant conflict with one another ever since returning from the Amazon. He might think he communicates fully without metaphors and symbolism, but that was far from the truth. Ethan hid more of himself than anyone she’d ever met. Perhaps that’s why she saw him in the sea, so many layers and mysteries beneath its depths, and she was trapped at the surface, wanting nothing more than to dive in.

Ellie wandered further through the gallery. All of the paintings were of local people and sights, which begged the question why did the painting of the boat not have any landmarks. Anywhere she would have seen a boat like that, there would have been some shore or piece of land to place the scene in the bay. And yet there wasn’t. It seemed in contrast with the other paintings. The question continued to nag her as she searched for an answer that would help their patient. 


End file.
